Ajitsuke nori (nori flavored with soy source, mirin and seasonings) (味付け海苔)
Ajitsuke nori (nori flavored with soy sauce, mirin and seasonings) is a generic term for processed nori (dried laver seaweed) products mainly seasoned with soy-sauce, sugar, and spices.
Summary
Whereas Yakinori (toasted laver seaweed) is sold in size as big as the one before being processed (the entire size: about 21cm by 19cm), Ajitsuke nori is often sold as a set of several small sheets (about five sheets) being cut into eight parts (5cm by 10cm) or twelve parts (3.5cm by 10cm) of the whole nori sheet in a package. Yakinori with inferior flavor is often used for Ajitsuke nori for efficient use.
Ajitsuke nori was invented by the second generation of the Yamamoto Noriten Company, Tokujiro YAMAMOTO.
Ajitsuke nori is heated and dried with a crispy touch, and the taste of seasonings comes out through juice such as saliva when eating.
Since the moisture absorbency is enhanced by seasonings used for seasoning, compared with unseasoned food, it is recommended to eat it just after opening the package for enjoying its crispy touch. After some time after opening, it would be hard to handle Ajitsuke nori which sticks together or becomes sticky when holding it due to seasonings leaking out after absorbing humidity.
Ajitsuke nori, being seasoned with sweet and salty sauce, goes well with rice. When eating it with tamago kake gohan (rice with a mixed raw egg put on), a small portion of rice is wrapped by Ajitsuke nori or Ajitsuke nori is rubbed in one's fingers with pieces about 1cm by 1cm sprinkled over and stirred with rice.
Nori originally seasoned in each area including Ono nori in Tokushima Prefecture or Oyster soy-sauce nori (laver) in Hiroshima Prefecture are sold.
A product called Korean nori is seasoned with sesame oil and salt, and it has a good flavor of sesame.
Processing method
Seasonings are applied by roller between two drying processes.